


Knowing How to Listen

by bjfic_archivist



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Canon, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-07-04
Updated: 2004-07-04
Packaged: 2018-12-26 17:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12063885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bjfic_archivist/pseuds/bjfic_archivist
Summary: Every partnership has holiday rituals, even if no one else knows what they mean.





	Knowing How to Listen

**Author's Note:**

> Note from IrishCaelan, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Brian_Justin_Fanfiction_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in September 2017. I posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bjfic/profile).

It's Valentine's Day again, even though he knows Brian will never admit it. But he knows, he's known for quite a while, now, holding those memories close when there's a week with one too many tricks and too few moments when Brian's eyes melt into his own.

The rest of their friends celebrated the holiday months ago, when the February calendar dictated the masses worship the gods of chocolate and flowers. But this is _their_ night, and all the more special for the fact that the world will never know what today truly is.

He knows there won't be roses waiting on the table, despite Melanie's none-too-subtle hints to Brian every year. "The Kinney Way" will never stoop to the depths of "empty fucking commercialism", and that's the way it should be.

There won't be candles flickering on the table around a catered Italian dinner. Brian's still mocking Ted for that one, two years after the fact, and the weight of a thousand imagined "I-told-you-so's" ensure that an evening of fettuccine and wine won't be in the cards tonight, and that's the only way he wants it.

There _will_ be silk sheets, though, midnight blue softly sliding over the planes and angles of Brian's body as he waits in bed, softly aroused, waiting for Justin to come through the door. He'll ask if they're going out tonight, knowing the answer and still managing to feign slight surprise when Brian says _no, not tonight, let's stay in_.

There's no velvet to be had in the loft, but Brian's tongue will skim over his skin, smooth and wet and seductive in a way fabric could never be. Soft kisses, fingers skimming over his face one millimeter at a time, and then Brian will kiss him, eyes open, breathing into him all the words he can't say. And he'll hear them loud and clear, nodding, burying his fist in Brian's hair and arching closer as the kiss turns heated. They'll move together, the sweat rolling down their bodies and fusing them together, and he'll come with Brian's name on his lips, head tossed back in ecstasy as his toes curl above Brian's shoulders.

Sometimes they dance in the bed, Brian's arms wrapped tightly around his back, lips barely moving as he almost-hums the song against his forehead, rocking them in time to the phantom music. He can't really hear the lyrics, or follow the tune, but he knows, he hears it as clearly as he imagines he did that night, seven years ago today.

*Their* Valentine's Day.

And when he's nearly sleeping, eyes barely open in the moment before awareness fades, he'll feel Brian tracing his hand, mapping it slowly, kissing him with fingers that still tremble in the night, remembering. He'll roll his hand, meshing their fingers, and squeeze. _I'm all right, Brian_ , he'll say with the touch, _you saved me_ , his palm will whisper, _I know you love me_.

Brian said coming to the Prom was "ridiculously romantic", but he knows that was just the beginning. For a man who doesn't believe in romance, Brian says _I love you_ all the time. You just have to know how to listen.

And he does.


End file.
